On Your Marks, Get Set
by mollywobblesundersee
Summary: Gale and Madge are contestants on The Great British Bake Off. Every week, they have to get through difficult technicals, stressful signatures and produce showstoppers with a wow-factor, all while dealing with the chemistry building between them.


**A/N:** So I know I'm already behind on this but I saw the idea posted by damnmarauders on tumblr and it just spoke to me as a big fan of gadge and GBBO, so here we are! Hopefully this will line up well with the show if I can crank out the first few chapters in the next week, but there are no promises as I am awful when it comes to writing discipline! Anyway, enjoy!

 **Cake Week**

Looking at the white tent as it drew closer, Madge was begging for a few more minutes on the bus to prepare herself. National TV, time pressure and competition – the next few weeks were going to be a step far beyond the comforts of baking with Peeta in her flat. Soon, she would have no support system. Just her and a baking station. Normally, a little time to make some biscuits was therapeutic, but as the coach came to a stop a little way away from the grass and the tent, Madge felt her stomach grumble with anxiety. In a moment, she knew she had bitten off more than she could conceivably chew.

The woman with the clipboard at the front gave a briefing as she stood in front of the twelve contestants, but it all went in one ear and out the other for Madge. Looking around, the blonde caught the eyes of a competitor sitting near the back. She could tell he was tall by the uncomfortable bend of his back as he waited to leave his seat, and his eyes drew her in for a second. _No_ , she told herself, _you can't get sucked in by the competition_. Straightening herself out, Madge followed behind the others in front and stepped off the coach into the fresh morning. It was still a little dewy on the grass as they crossed to their new home-from-home, but Madge didn't pay attention. She was going to be focused today if it killed her. Making a strong impression on Paul and Mary was her goal for the morning, and she couldn't let nerves or wet grass or handsome strangers knock her off course.

Inside the tent, twelve workstations were laid out in neat rows. The room seemed to go on forever, feeling much bigger than it ever appeared on TV. Needless to say it was somewhat intimidating. Crew members directed the bakers off to their stations, switching and moving people until they were comfortable with the aesthetic of the place. Madge had a look around, smiling at the woman in front of her. Over her shoulder, Madge spotted the khaki coloured top she recognised to be Mr Tall and Handsome's. She swivelled on her heels and leant on his counter a little. It was a good idea to have an ally before it all started.

"Hi," she said with a smile, watching his eyes move from the utensils he was taking stock of onto her, "I'm Madge. Madge Undersee."

The man held his hand out and nodded, "Gale Hawthorne. Sorry, I'm just freaking out now I'm here. I feel like I'm going to forget how to use a spoon!"

A small laugh slipped from her lips and Madge gave a reassuring nod. "I feel the same way. Usually I bake to calm myself down but right now the thought of it's making me feel worse," she explained.

"Exactly!" Gale responded, "My mates all think baking's a laugh, but it's… serious now."

From the front of the tent, a producer called for quiet so they could set things up properly. Madge quickly whispered a good luck to Gale and turned back to face forward, eyeing the set pieces which adorned the tent. It was as adorably British as her friends had always said, and she would definitely be telling them all about just how much gingham she was surrounded by as soon as the signature was over.

* * *

Moist. His drizzle cake had to be moist. Mel had said the word a thousand times and it was really sinking in. If he messed up the moisture, his chances of making it past week one were out of the window. A lemon and orange drizzle seemed like the perfect mix of cautious and optimistic for him – it was basic, but if he got it right then hopefully he'd get some decent feedback to pull him through the technical. When the time had started, it all seemed overwhelming, but things were starting to fall (almost) into place now the main mixture was looking right.

In front of him, Madge seemed to be a little flustered. Her cake looked more complex than Gale cared to think about, with nuts covering just about every surface despite the fact her dry ingredients were already combined. Her recipe was covered in little ticks and crosses, sketches and times written in a feint pencil. Gale's looked relatively clean in comparison. While he wasn't typically one to over analyse, it did make him swallow a little harder. What if he was supposed to be this methodical? His panic faded when he heard a sharp 'bloody hell' come from the blonde in front.

"You okay?" he said, leaning forward a little as he mixed together the zests and juices for his curd.

Madge turned around and nodded, "Yeah, no, I'm fine. I just have a million different things going on and I don't want to mess them up. I promised my friend I wouldn't show him up on national TV since he taught me a lot of the basics and right now I'm worried I might."

Gale shook his head and looked down at his curd, "You'll be fine. Your mate is probably honoured you're showing off the product of his teaching to Mary-bloody-Berry."

Her laugh was infectious. Earlier, it was so relaxed, but now he could tell there was a little worry in her laugh, no matter how cool she was trying to play it off. "Maybe you're right. But I don't want to distract you any longer so I'm going back to this topping."

Nodding, Gale got back to his own work. His eyes flicked up onto the messy ponytail tied in a soft pink ribbon, but were quickly drawn away by Mel and Sue walking up to his station trying to snag his lemons and oranges.

* * *

"Bakers, you have five minutes," Sue chimed, setting fear into everyone's bodies. Maybe except Selasi, who Madge had to say was extremely calm in such a high pressure situation. She would have to ask him for his secret before the technical, but right now she had icing to drizzle. Madge held the piping bag up and did her best to make smooth lines, but her shaking hand wasn't helping. She didn't have enough time to mess around. After a quick breath, Madge got on with the task at hand, leaving delicate white lines over the surface of the cake. Seeing the product of her worked calmed her down, enabling her to move the cake to the edge of the bench with ease. She glanced back at Gale, who was brushing zest off of the area around his cake and flashed him a smile. They had actually finished. All that was left of the signature was Paul and Mary's judgement.

It seemed to take forever before they reached her station. Paul cut straight in and pulled out the slice, eyeing it carefully for any undercooked areas or lumps of nut. "The bake looks even," he stated – score one for Madge, she thought silently – "but I think that the nuts could have been a little more evenly distributed. You can see they've clumped together a little bit."

She could take that hit. Mary always had something nice to say, so she just had to pray this wasn't the first time the rule of thumb was broken. "Well, I think the whole cake looks fantastic – the colour's consistent. And I love the texture of the bake," she told Madge, finishing off the little piece she had taken.

"Thank you," Madge said with a smile, watching them walk back to Gale's bench.

His bake looked stunning. Paul had _the_ smirk when he took a bite. The flavours, he said, were a great combination, and Mary liked how traditional it all felt. Mel had run off with a little piece herself, telling everyone in the tent that it was about as tasty as possible. Madge gave a little thumb up to him and Gale smiled.

* * *

"They loved it, you could tank this and still come out well," Madge said to Gale as they walked back to their station before the technical. Madge clutched her mug of tea and looked up at Gale as he shrugged his shoulders. He was still in denial, if truth be told. He never expected an honest to God compliment from Paul on week one.

The pair reached Madge's bench and Gale leant up against it's edge, "I don't think so. No one is safe."

Madge swatted him off with her free hand, "Sure, sure. When you win, make sure you drop that one in your speech."

"Fighting talk, Undersee," Gale teased as he walked behind his station, ready to get on with the technical. He knew damn well it was going to be a major headache, so he decided it was best to follow the recipe to the letter, however vague it was. That was what worked best in a technical. No flair, just to-the-letter baking. He could manage that. Rules weren't exactly his thing, but he could follow them for one bake per weekend.

As Mel, Sue, Paul and Mary lined up at the front, Gale got ready to take the tea towel off the ingredients to get started with the bake. When the announcement came, he felt the air knocked out of his chest.

How the hell was he supposed to make a jaffa cake?

* * *

By the middle of the bake, everyone in the tent was stressed. Jelly was made, cakes were cooling and chocolate was melting; to the untrained eye it would appear that everything was going fine, but everyone was struggling with the same question – what does a jaffa cake actually look like?

Madge was no stranger to the sweet treat, given her father's fondness for them, but for the life of her she couldn't remember how the little criss-cross went or what end the chocolate went on. Val and Andrew seemed to be pondering the same question, turning the cakes upside down and back again in their hands time and time again. This was going to be make or break. One slip up would knock her down a few places and she couldn't afford that after her clumpy drizzle cake.

The orange jelly was lined up perfectly on the top of her cakes a little while later, ready to be covered in chocolate. The blonde glanced around, finding most people were at the same stage as her which was a complete relief. She was certainly tight for time, but at least everybody was there with her.

* * *

Gale had entered the competition knowing that the technical was one of the worst parts of being on Bake Off. Getting ranked against people you sat across from and had tea with was bad, but it was always the most precise of the challenges and they knew

Paul glanced over his plate with a critical eye. Mary was following suit. _Fuck, I've messed it up_. Gale swallowed, trying to keep a low profile as Mary picked up his jaffa cake to inspect it more closely.

"Well," she began, "It's upside down for a start." That was the only blow he needed to tell him he was going to be low down. It went from bad to worse when Paul said that the jelly had been cut too small.

Gale found himself in last place, Madge was third.

* * *

Sunday morning marked a new day. Madge had renewed energy after doing well in the technical challenge, but she could see it had done a number on Gale as he walked into the tent with Rav, a little worse for wear while he conversed with the other male. Madge tied on her apron as he approached, giving him the impression of a smile as he passed her.

Madge walked over to his bench and rubbed his arm quietly. He looked a little surprised by the gesture, but he didn't stop it. "Just remember how much they loved your drizzle cake," she told him. "And your sponge was still good last time! Just some misplaced chocolate," the blonde added, tightening her ponytail.

"Yeah, thanks," he said with a nod. "It knocked my confidence a bit, but I think I can manage one last bake before they boot me off," he told her with a laugh. Madge was glad he was joking with her because it meant he was doing better than his face let on. They had a busy day ahead of them and the last thing she needed was for a friend to be leaving the tent on the first week. It would certainly remove the safety mat she felt like she had.

"Well, good luck with your glaze," she told him, heading back to her station. She had a minute by minute plan for her bake today and she just wanted to show the judges that she had it in her to be a good baker.

Gale nodded and started to lay out a few items he was going to need, "You too." The pair looked away from each other and they seemed insular for a moment before Gale spoke up again, "Pretty dress. I think my sister's going to like it."

* * *

After possibly the most stressful cake making experience of his life, Gale walked up to the front with his bake and felt proud. The glaze was smooth and it had a bit of shine. Nothing like Sue's or Andrew's, but it was still glistening. Mary liked the look of it and Paul said the sponge was pretty well baked and definitely not rubbery. The strawberry topping was complemented as being a nice touch to the overall look. All of that was music to his ears. He had to be safe after a bake like that.

As he walked back up to his little area, Madge smiled and stopped him briefly while the lighting was re-set. "Strawberries are my favourite, so I hope I get a piece of this later. I'll even swap you for my not-so-glossy finished caramel swirl," she said, motioning over to her own cake. He honestly didn't know what she meant – her white chocolate glaze was smooth and the caramel looked delicious.

"I think that's a fair trade," he said, placing his bake back down. "But if it's berries you're after, Selasi's looks like the one for you."

Sue won star baker and Lee was out.

* * *

Gale felt relief he made it through the first week. Madge was immediately on the phone thanking Peeta for training her up well enough to face Paul without it ending in tears.

It wasn't a late finish, but by the time her apron was hung up, Madge felt exhausted. The first weekend was the hurdle she desperately wanted to get over. As the contestant headed to the bus back to the hotel, Madge found herself waiting with Gale. The silence was a little tense, if not refreshing given the hustle and bustle of the tent over the weekend, so Madge decide there was no time like the present to strike up a conversation.

"So, what are you back to doing tomorrow?" she asked, doing up the buttons on her cardigan.

Gale looked over and put his hands into his pocket, "I have a landscaping business with my cousin. Lots of grass to cut and hedges to trim. It'll be nice to be outdoors instead of a stuffy tent for the day."

Madge laughed softly and nodded as the contestants all got into the vehicle, "Sounds nice. I'll be inside all day so keep me in your thoughts." Before he could ask the question, Madge spoke again, "I'm doing a post-grad in Music. At least the practice rooms have air conditioning."

Smiling, Gale took a seat by the window in the middle of the bus. Madge slipped into the seat next to him after he gave her an approving nod. "Lucky…" he said, pulling out his phone to check for any messages he had missed with the day's filming. "Hopefully this heatwave packs up soon so I can leave without sweating through my clothes," he said, watching the tent disappear from view as they left the site.

The weekend had been so long, but Madge felt like good things were on the horizon. She was through week one, had friends in the tent and knew that she could knock biscuits out of the park next week.

Silently, she hoped Gale would do the same. She wanted a little more time to get to know him.

* * *

 **A/N:** So that was the first chapter! Let me know what you think and if you spot any mistakes. I don't currently have a beta, so my eyes might miss things. I want to keep it following the show this year loosely but obviously I will make adjustments to help our little love birds find their way together! Next time, biscuit week…


End file.
